This invention generally relates to apparatus for writing digitally encoded color images onto photosensitive media and more particularly relates to an apparatus for writing color images onto motion picture film from digital data using a single spatial light modulator with a plurality of light sources.
In conventional motion picture film preparation, a master negative film is developed and prepared as an intermediate from which copies can be mass-produced as print films. One example of a motion picture printer using conventional optical methods for producing print films is the Model 6131 Series Printer manufactured by BHP Incorporated, Chicago, Ill. Using such conventional methods and optical equipment, projection-quality print films for distribution can be produced economically, at high speed.
With the advent of digital motion picture imaging, conventional optical methods can still be used for print film preparation. That is, a master negative film can be prepared using digital imaging equipment. This same master negative film then serves as an intermediate for print film production, following the conventional sequence used for film production using optical equipment. However, it can be appreciated that there are benefits to film production methods that offer increased speed, lowered cost, and increased versatility over earlier methods. As one example, conventional methods don""t allow imaging directly to print film economically. Using conventional equipment, an intermediate film is still required, with an accompanying loss of some measure of image quality in transfer between the intermediate negative film and the final print film.
Those knowledgeable in the film production arts will realize that relatively slow writing speeds are a disadvantage for digital film production. Conventional digitally-based motion picture film imaging systems, using CRT writers or using lasers in conjunction with a spinning polygon, yield writing output speeds measured in multiple seconds per frame. However, high-speed film duplication using older optical exposure methods achieves speeds measured in multiple frames per second. Thus, in order to provide a competitive alternative to optical film production methods, digital film production methods must improve upon current printing times.
Light Modulators for Printing
For motion picture film and other photosensitive media in general, spatial light modulators show considerable promise as image forming components. Originally developed for digital projection equipment, spatial light modulators are being more widely used for imaging onto film and other photosensitive media. Spatial light modulators used for this purpose include liquid crystal devices (LCDs) from Victor Company of Japan (JVC), Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan, and digital micromirror devices (DMDs) from Texas Instruments, Dallas, Tex. A spatial light modulator can be considered essentially as a two-dimensional array of light-valve elements, each element corresponding to an image pixel. Each array element is separately addressable and digitally controlled to modulate light. An LCD, for example, modulates light intensity for a pixel by modulating the polarization state of light from the array location corresponding to that pixel. For operation, the LCD must be provided with plane polarized light.
Both LCD and DMD arrays have advantages over other types of image-forming devices. Because LCD and DMD arrays can image a complete frame at a time, there is minimal mechanical complexity and thus, lower cost. Thus, LCDs and DMDs enjoy complexity and cost advantages, particularly in contrast to writing systems using lasers with spinning polygons.
Though not as widely used, other types of spatial light modulators used for photosensitive media include gated light valves such as lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (PLZT) light valves. The gated light valve is essentially an array of light-transmitting elements arranged in linear fashion to provide a 1xc3x97m pixel array, where the width of the array, m, is typically in the range of a few thousand pixels. One example of a gated light valve is a Micro Light Valve Array (MLVA) used in the Noritsu model QSS-2711 Digital Lab System, manufactured by Noritsu Koki Co., located in Wakayama, Japan. The same basic imaging principle used with spatial light modulators applies, whereby individual elements in the array vary in the intensity of light emitted. However, using a linear array provides only one line of the two-dimensional image at a time, and therefore requires movement of the photosensitive media relative to the printhead in order to expose a complete frame.
Alternative Light Sources
There are a number of alternative light sources for use with a spatial light modulator in an apparatus that images onto a photosensitive medium, including the following:
(a) tungsten or halogen lamp. These sources, although used in many types of film development and processing systems, are not advantageous for high-speed film printing using spatial light modulators. Substantial filtering and polarization optics are typically required to adapt lamp sources to spatial light modulators, with concomitant loss of brightness. Shuttering components would be necessary for color printing using multiple sources. Heat management would also be necessary for tungsten or halogen sources.
(b) LED. These light sources are low cost and have favorable response speeds when compared against other light sources that must be shuttered. However, single LEDs do not generally provide sufficient brightness for high-speed imaging. Arrays comprising multiple LEDs are one possible solution; however, conventional solutions using LED arrays face aperture size and cone angle constraints, which force tradeoffs between cost, complexity, and brightness. These disadvantages have, therefore, limited the use of LEDs as light sources for high-speed production of motion picture films.
(c) laser. The laser has advantages including high brightness and narrow bandwidth. As a further advantage, laser output is inherently polarized, not requiring polarization conditioning by lossy components in the optical path. However, lasers are higher in cost, particularly in some wavelengths.
Overall, LEDs and lasers are more durable than lamps and provide a favorable solution for imaging systems needing light at specific wavelengths and having high brightness levels.
Illumination Optics Path Considerations for Color Printing
Color motion picture printing uses sequenced exposures at discrete red, green, and blue (RGB) wavelengths. As a general rule for throughput efficiency, printing speed is primarily a factor of the achievable brightness of the light source. The preferred approach for illumination optics, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,547 (Ramanujan et al.) teaches the use of a single illumination optics path to one spatial light modulator for successive modulation of red, green, and blue light. Using a time-sequenced illumination scheme, the red, green, and blue light sources are sequentially modulated by the spatial light modulator and focused onto a photosensitive medium.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,547 discloses a number of possible alternative light sources, including a lamp provided with a rotating filter wheel or multiple LEDs arrayed in different parts of a circular aperture. A notable advantage of the arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,547 is that the same illumination and imaging optics path is used for light of each color. This eliminates the need for registration of separate color path components and allows a minimum of components to be employed for full-color imaging onto the photosensitive medium. However, the arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,547 presents some obstacles. Aperture size and optical cone angle constraints can limit the number of LED or other light sources provided, thus limiting the brightness achieved. Compromises that can be made include deploying, within the limited space available, a different number of LEDs or other light sources for each wavelength according to sensitometric response characteristics of the target media. Solutions requiring motor movement, such as the rotating filter wheel, may introduce unwanted mechanical complexity and vibration effects. Timing considerations are complicated by the need to avoid using transitional zones in a filter wheel using multiple color filters. In spite of such problems, it can be appreciated that there would be substantial benefits to an illumination scheme that utilizes a single optics path with a single spatial light modulator.
An alternative approach for illumination optics would be to employ a separate optical path for each color. This approach has been widely used in digital color projection. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,615 (Peterson et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,713 (Tadic-Galeb et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,262,851 (Marshall) all disclose projectors that use separate red, green, and blue light paths, each light path using its own separate spatial light modulator. Certainly, this approach increases the output brightness levels of an imaging system using spatial light modulator technology. However, the added cost and complexity when using separate spatial light modulators can be a significant disadvantage.
It is instructive to note that the requirements for digital color printing and projection can be very different in some ways. Projectors are optimized to provide maximum luminous flux to a screen, with secondary emphasis placed on characteristics important in printing, such as contrast and resolution. Optical systems for projector and display applications are designed for the response of the human eye, which, when viewing a display, is relatively insensitive to image artifacts and aberrations and to image non-uniformity, since the displayed image is continually refreshed and is viewed from a distance. However, when viewing printed output from a high-resolution printing system, the human eye is not nearly as xe2x80x9cforgivingxe2x80x9d to artifacts and aberrations and to non-uniformity, since irregularities in optical response are more readily visible and objectionable on printed output. For this reason, there can be considerable complexity in optical systems for providing a uniform exposure energy for printing. When imaging onto print film for digital cinema, an added factor relates to the characteristic gamma of the print film. Due to film gamma, artifacts of the spatial light modulator become more pronounced when imaged onto print film, thereby accentuating an image quality problem originating at the spatial light modulator.
Also significant are differences in resolution requirements. Adapted for the human eye, projection and display systems are optimized for viewing at typical resolutions such as 72 dpi or less, for example. Photographic printing apparatus, on the other hand, must achieve much higher resolution, depending on the media type. For example, apparatus designed for micrographics applications are expected to provide 8,000 dpi for some systems. Thus, while LCD spatial light modulators can be used in for both projection display and high-resolution printing, the requirements on supporting optics can vary significantly.
In light of these significant differences between color projection and color printing using spatial light modulators, then, it can be readily appreciated that technical solutions that may be well-suited to digital projection apparatus using spatial light modulators may not be appropriate to digital printing apparatus using a spatial light modulator.
One technical solution that has been broadly applied for digital projection apparatus, but has not been widely used with digital printing apparatus, is the use of dichroic optical components. Well known in the optical design arts, dichroic components provide treated surfaces that reflect light over some range of wavelengths and transmit light of other wavelengths. Of particular interest are dichroic prisms, such as those manufactured by Optec S. R. L., Italy. Dichroic prisms provide combinations of dichroic surfaces between prisms, cemented together in arrangements such as in the familiar X-cube or X-prism, Philips prism, and related devices. Different types of dichroic prisms are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,229,651 (Edlinger), U.S. Pat. No. 6,238,051 (Huang), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,474 (Doany et al.)
In digital projection, dichroic separators are employed in the illumination path, to separate white light into red, green, and blue light components for modulation. U.S. Patent No. 6,053,615 (Peterson et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,713 (Tadic-Galeb et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,237 (Booth) are just a few examples of projector designs using this approach. Dichroic combiners are then used at a later point in the optical path, after modulation at the spatial light modulators. Dichroic combiners, typically X-cubes or X-prisms and Philips prisms, have been widely used in digital projectors for combining the optical paths of modulated light, incident from a number of different axes, into a single, common axis for projection. As just a few examples, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,453,859 and 5,795,047 (both to Sannohe et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,262,851 (Marshall) disclose use of an X-cube or similar dichroic combiner for combining modulated light in the output path for a digital projection apparatus. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,605,390 and 5,816,675 (both to Brice et al.) disclose a digital projection apparatus that uses an X-cube as a dichroic splitter in the illumination path and a similar X-cube as a dichroic combiner for modulated light in a compact projector. U.S. Pat. No. 5,917,560 (Neumann) discloses use of a single X-cube as both dichroic separator and dichroic combiner for a projection apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,278,474 (Wada et al.) discloses a complex printing apparatus that uses a dichroic prism in the path of modulated light. In the embodiment disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,278,474, the dichroic prism provides a component for redirecting modulated light from any of three linear printheads onto a moving medium. This solution may work well when using linear light modulation, which provides a single line of pixels at a time. However, because the spatial light modulator provides a full image frame at one time, this approach becomes more difficult to implement with a spatial light modulator. One notable weakness of X-cube devices in the imaging path, for example, is due to the intersection line of crossed dichroic surfaces at the center of the device. Dependent, in part, on the placement of the X-cube in the imaging path, image aberrations caused by this line of intersection can be visible in a printed image. Moreover, due to space considerations it is unclear how the solution of U.S. Pat. No. 6,278,474 could be implemented in any simple and inexpensive way when using a spatial light modulator of the reflective type.
U.S. Pat, No. 5,982,407 (Enomoto et al.) discloses a printing apparatus that uses dichroic mirrors in its illumination light path for DMD spatial light modulators. In the embodiment disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,407, dichroic mirrors are deployed to direct light from red, green, and blue light sources onto the surface of a DMD. This arrangement provides relatively good brightness levels and minimizes the complexity of light conditioning optics in the illumination path. However, there are a number of disadvantages when using a sequence of dichroic mirrors as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,407. Space requirements are one key disadvantage with the use of multiple dichroic mirrors. These mirrors must be staggered and spaced correctly with respect to one another and to the individual light sources, making it difficult to design a printing apparatus in a compact package. Moreover, each individual dichroic mirror must be correctly aligned relative to its light source and to the illumination optics path for proper performance. Another significant disadvantage when using multiple dichroic mirrors as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,407 relates to the relative cone angles of incident light. The most advantageous arrangement would provide incident light from all colored light sources at the same cone angle. With the layout shown for U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,407, however, the effective cone angle for light incident on the spatial light modulator can differ substantially from one colored light source to the next. It would be cumbersome to provide identical cone angles for incident light of each color when using the arrangement of U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,407, placing dimensional constraints on component layout or adding the expense of additional optical components. Without restrictive design constraints or added cost, a different percentage of light from each light source is effectively available at the spatial light modulator when using dichroic mirrors. Any optical components for obtaining a uniformly bright field, such as lenslet arrays, integrating bars, or related devices, would then necessarily be different within each colored light path; otherwise, the compromises that would be needed could easily degrade the overall brightness of the illumination system. Moreover, it would be difficult to provide illumination having the same height-width aspect ratio as the spatial light modulator when using the arrangement disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,407. Obtaining color balance would be further complicated, since different light sources would not be uniformly bright due, in large part, to cone angle differences.
As was noted above, there are advantages in maximizing brightness and minimizing cost and complexity in the illumination optics subsystem of a digital color printing apparatus. With this in mind, it can readily be appreciated that there are advantages to an illumination system that provides source light having a large cone angle that is substantially the same for each of the component colors. There are further advantages for printing apparatus design in making the illumination optics subsystem as compact as possible.
In conventional practice, printing apparatus are often designed to be compatible with one type of photosensitive medium. While some ability to adapt to different media types and conditions is inherent in the ability to modulate at the spatial light modulator itself, it can be appreciated that there would be advantages in designing an illumination system that has added adaptability. For example, different types of photographic film or paper process optimally under different brightness conditions. There would be advantages, therefore, in providing a printing apparatus that is adaptable to as broad a range of media as possible.
In summary, it can be seen that there is room for improvement in maximizing brightness, in simplifying the time sequencing, in streamlining the component arrangement, and in providing solutions which allow compact component packaging for the illumination optics path of a digital color printing apparatus using a spatial light modulator.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a digital color writing apparatus using a spatial light modulator and having an illumination optics path that provides improved brightness and provides other advantages over conventional systems.
Briefly, according to one aspect of the present invention a writing apparatus for forming an image from digital data onto a photosensitive medium comprises:
(a) a spatial light modulator comprising an array of pixel sites, each pixel site modulating an incident light beam in order to form an array of image pixels according to the digital data; and
(b) an illumination system comprising a dichroic prism for combining input light from a plurality of light sources onto a common output axis to provide the incident light beam.
It is a feature of the present invention that it employs a dichroic combiner in a novel arrangement within the illumination system of the digital color writing apparatus.
It is an advantage of the present invention that it provides an apparatus capable of achieving high print speeds that can equal or exceed those available with conventional laser and polygon-based equipment. Moreover, the apparatus of the present invention achieves high throughput speeds without the complexity and cost of rotating reflective components and their support timing structures.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that it allows the use of colored light sources having high brightness, while providing a single optical path for directing and conditioning an incident light beam from such sources for modulation. With respect to the optical path, the present invention relaxes limitations on the illumination area where arrays of light sources are employed. In effect, for each color, an array of light sources can fill the full aperture and illumination cone angle available. Since it positions each light source at the same optical distance from uniformizing optics and modulation components, the present invention also facilitates providing, for each color illumination at the same height-width aspect ratio as the spatial light modulator.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that its optical arrangement provides each component light source at substantially the same cone angle. This simplifies the design of optics used to provide a uniform light field for each color source in the illumination path.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that it provides a compact arrangement of light sources that can be clustered in close proximity to the dichroic prism.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that it provides an arrangement that allows straightforward alignment of colored light from multiple light sources onto a single illumination path.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that it allows the sequencing of colored light to be controlled directly at the light source, thereby taking advantage of fast switching times of LED devices and eliminating the need for rotating filters, shutters, or other optical or mechanical devices used for providing sequential color with conventional approaches. Using the method of the present invention, it is straightforward to adapt exposure intensity and duration to the specific response characteristics of a photosensitive medium.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the invention.